February 2019 – Courtney Hunt

Just thought it’d be fun to put up a quick check-in post. How are things where you are?

Currently writing: Christmas at Starlight Lake. I just hit the midpoint on Sunday and I’m loving writing Noah and Clemmie’s story. She’s his brother’s childhood best friend and they both end up back at Starlight Lake (a fictional lake in the Finger Lakes region) for Christmas. They get involved with the town’s Christmas festival and many fun hijinks ensue. So many fun secondary characters too. I’m having a lot of fun writing it and I can’t wait until you all get to read it.

Currently listening to: I alternate between a few Spotify playlists. One is all Christmas all the time (Hallmark Christmas Marathon). Another is Chillhop for concentrating more on getting words down. And did you know Disney has a ton of Spotify playlists? My personal favorite is Disney Score to Study To.

Currently reading: 44 Scotland Street series by Alexander McCall Smith. He’s best known for his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency mysteries but the 44 Scotland Street series is a serialized novel that originally appeared in The Scotsman newspaper. It’s such fun to see these characters interact in their everyday lives in Edinburgh. I’ve just finished the fourth installment (it’s a 12 book series!)

Currently watching: I just finished the new seasons of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Grace and Frankie. I love them both. I’m now watching the final season of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and catching up on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. So sad they’re both ending!

Currently crafting: I’m still unpacking my brand new basement craft studio. Can’t wait until I can actually craft in there! But I did take some time out of writing to go hang out with my bestie and make some signs at our local Board and Brush. We even got to wear VIP aprons while we did it. I’ve got another B&B class this weekend. What can I say? #addicted

Currently looking forward to: SPRING! We just had double snow days here. I’m so #donewithwinter! My hubby bought me these gorgeous daffodils to brighten the kitchen. Aren’t they pretty?

How about you? What’s currently going on with you?

So, if you follow Romancelandia on Twitter, you’ve probably seen the hashtag #CopyPasteCris. Author Courtney Milan discovered that her book, The Duchess War, had been plagiarized. Further searching uncovered the fact that, in fact, the “author” in question (Cris Serruya) had plagiarized multiple books, crafting her books into a patchwork of Frankenbooks with words lifted from Nora Roberts, Tessa Dare, Bella Andre, and many others. Cris Serruya admitted on Twitter that she’d had the books “ghostwritten” via Fiverr, took down her website, and promptly went radio silent. More and more evidence (entire paragraphs of it) continues to mount on Twitter.

I am shocked and appalled because I happen to “know” Cris Serruya. We have never met IRL. She may indeed be a bot or an avatar. I couldn’t tell you. We first “met” as part of the group of Kindle Scout winners in the fall of 2015. She also participated in two boxed sets with me (Happily Ever Alpha and Billionaire Ever After both in 2017). Both the boxed sets are long since unpublished and I have no way of knowing if Ms. Serruya’s included books were also Frankenbooks. UPDATE (2/19/2017 7:07 PM: Apparently, yes, the book she included in Billionaire Ever After, the boxed set which did hit the USA Today list, was Damaged Love which was plagairized from at least three other authors. Again, I am truly sorry. I had no idea that her entry was plagarized.)

As I was totally unaware of Ms. Serruya’s plagiarism, I’ve also recommended her books in my newsletter in the past. Please accept my apology. I would never knowingly condone plagiarism. It is theft. It is wrong and a terrible thing to do. My sympathies are with the authors whose hard work has been stolen. I am currently in the process of reviewing my own work to ensure that pieces of my books aren’t being cobbled together by other unscrupulous scammers.

All I can say is that I’ve written every word of every one of my books. I guarantee it. They’ve all been completed with blood, sweat, and tears as I slaved over the keyboard to bring my stories to life. I don’t condone plagiarism in any form. To be clear, my problem is NOT with ghostwriting, which is a legitimate form of work-for-hire writing, but with stealing another authors work, i.e. plagiarism in any form.

I happen to agree with the theory put forward on Smart Bitches and by Bree and by Alyssa Cole that Cris Serruya isn’t the only “author” relying on the same pool of cheap ghostwriters. I’d be willing to bet there are plenty more out there–usually those authors that are slapping up a “book” into Kindle Unlimited (KU) every few days. I suspect there is much more to come. (This speculation is in no way meant to excuse Ms. Serruya–just acknowledging that the Wild West of Indie Publishing is full of black hats and other scammers.)

Hopefully, Amazon will crack down on these authors that are cobbling together pieces from others hard work. Until then, constant vigilance, my friends.

Month: February 2019

Currently…

Frankenbooks